2024 Album-A-Day: Week 26

Halfway there! WOAH-OH! LIVING ON A PRAYER! Click this link, there's a playlist, I swear!

June 24th: The Spark by Enter Shikari

This was #1 on Crash Thompson's best of 2017 list, and because of that I've been meaning to get to this one. Enter Shikari's main sound is that of Muse-esque synth rock with elements of grime, and I was constantly engaged with this album. Rou Reynolds's voice and keys drive the songs forward, and the lyrics range from inspirational anthems like "Take My Country Back" to weird sci-fi tales like "The Revolt of the Atoms." They also never stay in one place for long; these songs are all very distinct. My favorite track was "Airfield."

June 25th: Good. by the Sawtooth Grin

This was the other request from H∃ΔLER (please request albums) Importantly, I don't listen to grindcore. It's possible that if I spent more time with it, I would probably learn to enjoy it, but as it is, grindcore is to me what most metal sounds to the untrained ear. The Sawtooth Grin are a band that does not have a Wikipedia article, and I could not find much about the individual members, so I'm just going off the music: it's grindcore, the lead singer is good at screaming, even if I can't make out the lyrics, and the riffs are good, but they don't really change over the course of the song, so the music ends up somewhat monotonous. Of course, I'm not knowledgable about the genre, to maybe I need more time with it. I chose "That's Just Swell" as my favorite.

June 26th: Sky Full of Holes by Fountains of Wayne

I'd put it off for long enough, so here goes: The final album by Fountains of Wayne. I love their other albums, and I love Adam Schlesinger, so it goes without saying that this is a good album. "The Summer Place" sets the tone perfectly, the same way "Mexican Wine" and "Utopia Parkway" did, with depressing imagery and poetic detail. The Schlesinger-Collingwood style never lets me down, and the punch never wears off. My favorite was "Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart"

June 27th: Brave Faces, Everyone by Spanish Love Songs

This was hyped up a lot when it came out, but I never got around to it at the time. I am so glad to have amended that. This crosses over for my previous enjoyment of Modern Baseball, and my eternal love of Jeff Rosenstock. It's got the same channeling of anger and fear into anthemic hooks and destructive riffs. My favorite song was the title track "Brave Faces, Everyone." I nearly cried when they said the title at the end.

June 28th: Simple Things by Zero 7

My experience with downtempo has mainly been Moon Safari by Air and a few Moby songs (I should do other Air albums on this list), so I wasn't too familiar with Zero 7. They are similar to Air, but feature acoustic guitar heavily, and also work with vocalists more often. I was surprised to see that a frequent collaborator is Sia, on the songs "Destiny" and "Distractions," mainly because I am mostly unfamiliar with her pre-"Chandelier" and "Titanium" career. The album is full of ambient and relaxed instrumentals, but never generic, and never entirely fading into the background. I love "Destiny" and "In the Waiting Line," and - my favorite - "This World."

June 29th: Rid of Me by PJ Harvey

This is yet another production of Steve Albini, and this album kicks all the same ass as Surfer Rosa and In Utero. Before this, I was mainly aware of PJ Harvey through "Down by the Water," a song that I mainly considered creepy. This album, on the other hand, is just kickass. Harvey and Albini are kindred spirits, sick of everything and refusing to take shit from anyone. That comes across in the performance, lyrics, and production. Songs like the title track, the "Highway 61 Revisited" cover, and "Legs" capture PJ Harvey's style of fierce and ragged grunge with no hangups, and Steve Albini took these songs right where they needed to go. My favorite was "Yuri-G"

June 30th: Pink Flag by Wire

All in the game, yo- wait, wrong Wire. This post-punk album consists of a series of short, punchy songs with satirical lyrics reminiscent of Gang of Four, and music that reminds me of the Clash. Some of these songs are brief fragments that end abruptly, and some of them cleanly transition into each other. I'm a big fan of this sound in general, and this band is no exception. My favorite was "Ex Lion Tamer"